Erik is a baseball fan who has been attending baseball games and snagging baseballs regularly since 2008.

7-25-09 Canal Park

I decided to make a trip to Akron OH today. The reason was two fold. One, I found someone willing to part with 4th row Dave Matthews Band tickets. Two, the Altoona Curve (Pirates AA affiliate) were in Akron for a weekend series.

I began by visiting a hotel in Akron OH to buy the DMB tickets. I didn’t buy the tickets off just any DMB fan. I bought them off a professional softball player. Her name was Nicole Trimboli, and she is one of the stand outs for the Chicago Bandits pro softball team. They had a series against Akron’s pro softball team. If you’re not a softball fan, you’ve probably heard of one of her teammates – widely regarded as the most popular softball player of all time – Jennie Finch.

I didn’t meet Finch, but I met some of her teammates, one of whom I sold DMB tickets to.

Upon arriving at Canal Park, there was no batting practice, so I searched beyond the left field fence and found three baseballs.

One was a Major League Baseball, well used. (And no, it doesn’t count in my official collection – only balls at MLB games do – regular and post season).

I then watched the Altoona Curve warm up, and snapped some photos of the Pittsburgh Pirates top prospects.

Jose Tabata stretching:Gorkys Hernandez chats with his girlfriend:
Pedro Alvarez signs a baseball for me. That’s right! I got him to sign an Arizona Fall League ball that I had with me.During the game, we sat down the right field line, because all of the sections were basically empty. I was hoping to get a game ball. I wouldn’t have to wait long.

Up stepped the #1 prospect in the Cleveland Indians system, Carlos Santana.Santana had 117 RBI last year, and already has 70 RBI this year.

Santana dug into the box and lauched a deep fly ball to left field. It was a three run home run. The ball bounced off a concrete walkway behind the left field wall, took a huge hop into some trees and disappeared.

I didn’t wait. I left the stadium and ran the entire way to the area behind the left field wall to claim the ball. I looked in the trees and the area behind the wall. I didn’t see it. Then I checked the water.

There it was.
It was floating towards a 20 foot high water fall.
If I didn’t act fast, the ball was a goner. It was about 15-20 feet from the falls when I got to the scene. I grabbed onto the railing, laid flat on my stomach and reached as far down as I could into the canal. I was just barely able to grab the ball.

It was a perfect Eastern League ball, what I had been after all day.
It was also my first game home run ball of the season. Although it won’t count in my major league official stats, it’s still a keeper.

Hopefully Carlos Santana becomes a star for the Indians in a year or two.

I stayed outside the park for an inning and a half, hoping to get another homer. (If I wanted to, I could watch the entire game outside the park for free, and have almost a 100% chance of getting any home runs that came out.)I re-entered the park, buying the cheapest ticket.

A few action shots:

Jose TabataPedro Alvarez (doing a Derek Jeter’esque time out request)Pedro would take the next pitch deep. The ball cleared both bullpens and hit just below the scoreboard in right center field. It had to be about 450 feet or more. It was a bomb.Alvarez congratulated at home plate:Pedro Alvarez now has 20 HR and 70 RBI’s this season.

The Pirates home run leader is Garett Jones with 10, and the RBI leader is Andy LaRoche with 37.

Needless to say, I can’t wait until Pedro Alvarez is on the big league club.

Here’s a look at today’s baseballs:
And the sweet spots (I decided to number minor league baseballs in black ink. I do all baseballs obtained at MLB games in blue ink)And by the way, since I mentioned Jennie Finch, how about a run down of the top 100 female athletes of all time? I got these from the bleacher report

5 Comments

Erik…

Way to go!! Can’t wait to read the story. It was nice that the sight got mentioned in the story. Too bad your name didn’t get mentioned in the article. It would be nice to get mentioned. I’m getting tired of seeing the same couple of names getting mentioned in EVERY article. Apparently there are only two ballhawks in America according to the press.

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